Siddhivinayak smiles on dialysis patients

Lord Ganesha would approve. The Siddhivinayak Temple trust has decided to set up a state-of-the-art dialysis centre close to the Prabhadevi temple, where patients can have a dialysis done at just Rs250 per cycle.

Lord Ganesha would approve. The Siddhivinayak Temple trust has decided to set up a state-of-the-art dialysis centre close to the Prabhadevi temple, where patients can have a dialysis done at just Rs250 per cycle.

At present, patients have to shell out Rs1,200-1,500 for each cycle of dialysis.

The temple has tied up with an NGO, Shri Veera Desai Jain Sangh, which runs a similar dialysis centre in Andheri, to get its 22-bed centre put together.

The NGO, which has a budget of Rs3 crore, will also appoint the health experts needed to run the centre.

“We will charge patients the minimum fee. The rest of the expenses will be borne by the temple and us,” explains Chetan Vora, trustee of the NGO. The Sangh and the temple administration have signed a memorandum of understanding to have the centre up and running by July.

Dr Jatin Kothari, nephrologist at the Hinduja Hospital, says huge dialysis bills begin to take a toll on patients and their families over a period of time. Some patients have to continue with this treatment for 15 years, simply because there is no way to get a new kidney. In a day, three patients can make use of a dialysis machine. Each cycle lasts for four hours.

“At the Lalbaugcha Raja dialysis centre, there are 600 people on the waiting list. Initially, people may manage to spend Rs1,500 per cycle of treatment, but this can’t be sustained for long. They then begin to look for centres which offer dialysis at affordable rates,” explains Dr Kothari.

Mangesh Shinde, CEO of the temple ad­ministration, says the decision was spurred by the realisation to have a sub-centre within Mumbai for conducting dialysis procedures.